Netherland: A Novel by Joseph O'Neill Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Netherland: A Novel
Book Review: American Dream Revisited
Summary: 4 Stars
It's always a risky endeavor to write a book that draws on a beloved American classic -- in this case, The Great Gatsby. But O'Neill pulls it off -- and does so brilliantly.
The story is set in post 9/11 New York; Hans van den Broek, an expatriate Dutch banker, is alone and alienated, with his marriage, even his identity, at risk. He meets a colorful, idealistic, and shady Trinidadian entrepreneur and cricket fanatic that evokes Jay Gatsby; through his association with the man, Chuck Ramkissoon, he is introduced to a New York where the American Dream is still alive and well.
Through Ramkissoon, Hans -- and by extension, all of us -- encounter the not-often-viewed parts of New York -- cabdrivers, cooks, less-than-ethical small businessmen. And we travel to the not-for-tourist neighborhoods in New York, primarily, the boroughs. For this Brooklyn-born reader, these sections offered unexpected delights and trips down memory lane. O'Neill got it precisely right.
The echoes of The Great Gatsby -- updated by decades -- abounds, particularly now when the dream has lost so much of its enchantment. The only problem for me (and this says more about me than it does the book) is that the much-developed cricket story didn't resonate and sometimes distracted me. Again, I am aware that this is my specific issue.
In Chuck Ramkissoon, O'Neill creates a very original and memorable character, and in Hans van den Broek, he develops a deceptively complicated and tortured narrator. But make no mistake -- New York is also a character in this novel, and she plays her part with great color and aplomb. I'd recommend highly.
Book Review: An English professor's dream?
Summary: 1 Stars
I should have counted the number of words I ought to have looked-up while reading Joseph O'Neil's "Netherland." They must have numbered at least one hundred. Not a bad trick to play on someone with a masters from an Ivy League university. Also, there were those inordinately complex sentences that I needed to reread at least three times to get their full meaning. Perhaps, an English professor's dream and the basis for an excellent literary essay. But the makings for a great novel? I think not, without a good plot and character development to back up those fancy words and sentences. I am perplexed why this book has been selected by The New York Times as one of the ten best books of the year and how it made the cut for the Man Booker Prize's long list. Apparently, all the reviewers were mesmerized by Mr. O'Neil's literary style to the point that they overlooked other ingredients normally associated with a good book. For me, "Netherland" was simply boring and pretentious. I plodded through to the end but then wondered why I had bothered.
I decided to read "Netherland" because it has been described as a post-9/11 novel. There are several references in this book to the emotional impact of 9/11 on New Yorkers and on the main character Hans whose wife uses the threat of future terrorist acts as a pretext to move back to London along with their son. A book that I found much richer in its discussion of 9/11 was "A Thousand Veils." It tells about a lawyer, totally immersed in the corporate greed of Wall Street, whose last-minute escape from the North Tower leads him to question his values and results in his life-changing decision to assist an Iraqi refugee. This is a much more satisfying solution than Hans' response in the aftermath of the crisis to bury himself in the game of cricket.
Book Review: An enjoyable post-9-11 read
Summary: 3 Stars
Mr O'Neill's text entitled Netherlands was indeed a very enjoyable and readable novel about the human condition and its many manifestation both real and imagined post September 11, 2001, moreover, it did not descend in to the useless psycho-babble that has been the vain of a considerable amount of what passes for good fiction surrounding this 'seminal' event for American societal organisation. The fact that cricket overshadowed mainstream American sport was appreciated as the dwindling Caribbean community in New York, which brought this wonderful game with them can be proud that it was presented as much more than a mere game.
The writing was efficient, characters were developed without much fanfare; however, the interrelationship were exploited with equal measure, which did make the story line stay full apace, a very enjoyable novel about the complexities of MODERN life, where 'dramatic' events are treated as just that bright but not overwhelming and whose affects are what one would argue as dramatically subtle.
Book Review: An extraordinary achievement
Summary: 5 Stars
O'Neill's novel is just marvelous. A poignant, funny and heart-wrenching account of events that unfold as a result of the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center. The fear, vulnerability and the sense of isolation that the attack exposes are palpable in passages of beautifully written prose. I found myself constantly pausing after paragraphs to reread and savor the author's descriptions.
The New York he describes is as authentic as any I have encountered in a novel: dreaded trips to the DMV are as dreadful as can be--creepy "performance artists" at the Time Square subway station are even more oppressive than the suffocating maze undergoing renovation. These "netherlands" and New York's Hudson Valley the original New Netherlands are juxtaposed to the mile high skyscrapers and Tribeca lofts that domicile the newest colonists.
Under the observant eye of Hans, a commodties analyst from the original Netherlands and his unlikely but entirely believable Trinidadian companion, Chuck, O'Neill explores the terrifying possibility of being alone in a city of eight million people. Loosely structured around their relationship to the game of cricket, Hans sets out to find something that will re-anchor and replace the sense of permanence he has lost.
I will never again hear the upstate town of Poughkeepsie pronounced without recalling the author's description as merry childish blurting. I probably will never go on Google Earth without experiencing something of the futility Hans feels as he "travels" to England each night to try to be near to the son who has gone home with Hans's wife. The technology, like his emotions will only let him get so close to family he aches for.
The entire book is what fiction does best: it is new and familiar at the same time. These characters are strangers and different yet just the same as yourself. Some reviewers have made a comparison Fitzgeralds's Gatsby which is apt. But for me, Joseph O'Neill's Netherland conjured up EM Forster's admonition in Howard's End: "Just connect....connect!".
Book Review: As boring as Cricket
Summary: 1 Stars
I should have put the book down when I read the word cricket. This book will put you to sleep like an 8hour cricket match. There was a lot of uninteresting details that strecthed the book out. The most exciting character in the book was Chuck and if the book was in his perspective it would have been far more interesting. The main character Hans is an oil analyst and seems to have the personality of a tree branch. We go thru the ups and downs of his volatile marriage and magically they make up which I find hard to believe. Any woman who read this book would see why she left him.